...and finally it pays off for OSNews to have a Dutch editor. Yes, I knew this glorious day would one day be upon us, the day upon which the rest of the technology world would be struggling with Google Translate to decipher a Dutch article with news in it. But not for OSNews, oh no! Anyway, Steve Wozniak, Apple founder and still technically an employee, gave an interview to a Dutch newspaper (the worst we have, but still) in which he made some interesting remarks. Update: Told you it's the worst newspaper we have.

Wozniak states that Android is the Windows of the smartphone world, and that while it still needs polishing, it will eventually be on par with the iOS.

Android will certainly be the #1 platform because there are so many options, and some of them are quite cheap (hence Walmart being the #1 retailer).

However I recently tried a top of the line Android phone with Android 2.2, and while superficially it can do all the things the iPhone can do, it's a far cry from being as easy or pleasant to use. Things like transitions are copied from the iPhone, but just not polished. Some are too slow and annoying, some are too fast and unnatural feeling.

Just comparing the interface for a simple thing like the camera. The android version just has mounds and mounds of options and adjustments. It's a cell phone, not an SLR! Classic example of adding features just because they can, and not actually thinking through what would make sense for the user.

Not that there is anything actually "wrong" with Android, it's just the difference between a polished product where everything is well thought out and optimized, and an interface that feels thrown together.
Android will gain market share for being cheap, and it will always be an awesome hackers phone for being open, but I don't think it will ever quite be on the same level of polish as the iPhone.

Are you blind or your post is full of sarcasm?
Android so far provide inferior experience.
Android is WinMobile Next and intended for WinMobile users - they're used to slow, lagging devices. Devices for masochists.

Actually, iPhone is a joke compared to Android: closed, crippled and feeling outdated with each new Android device.

Apple has already lost the sales & market share battle against Android. And this is only the beginning.

Mac Vs Windows history anyone?. Heh, "Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It" ^^.

Just like the Mac vs PC, Apple is still raking in more dough than most of the OEMs shipping windows, selling far less product and to top it off Apple has more influence which is surprising considering how small heir market share is. Apple doesn't care about market share, that should be clear to anyone by now, they care about money and that they have in spades. Steve said as much in the earnings call. If Apple were really about market share they would drop the price of the device to bargain bin levels, put it on every carrier, and compromise the iOS platform to allow carrier apps on the device. They haven't done that. They could have doen that when the phone was released and have a version on every network. They stuck to GSM. Android is most likely going to get all the market share, but what does that mean? None of the individual OEMs will have Apple's market share and most likely won't be making as much money as Apple and will have to cede control to the carriers of their OS update process, or allow carriers to create their own Android variant that they install on all phones with locked features and marketplaces. On top of that these OEMs are hell bent on saturating the market by releasing phone after phone every six months basically fragmenting the platform as its hard for developers to hit the maximum target and still deliver a forward thinking product. It's a worse situation than even Windows, imo. Basically the situation reminds me a lot of the distroland issue with Linux where there are subtle to significant differences between distros that affect who developers target, especially commercial developers who can't or won't just give their source away.

Actually, iPhone is a joke compared to Android: closed, crippled and feeling outdated with each new Android device.

Apple has already lost the sales & market share battle against Android. And this is only the beginning.

Mac Vs Windows history anyone?. Heh, "Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It" ^^.

I see you're an expert at stating opinion as fact. Here's my opinion; having had a Droid since launch, a first gen iPod touch, and now a 4th gen iPT, and a Samsung Galaxy S: Android is frustrating, unrefined, and unstable compared to iOS. Additionally, the apps are generally of lower quality.

For the average user not looking to re-compile this and that, Android is only open if you're an OEM, who then apparently feels obligated to throw shitty UI after shitty UI on it in a failed attempt to brand the phone. Blur, Sense, and whatever the hell is on Samsung stuff is just unnecessary.

Furthermore, for all the crap iOS has gotten for security, Android is even worse, and Google doesn't seem to be all that interested in hurrying up and fixing the holes.

Lastly, I don't think Apple really gives two squirts about market share, for phones or computers, since they make more money than any single vendor of Android or Windows out there.